The San Diego Padres edged out the Rockies on Monday night with a ninth inning walk off. Both starting pitchers were the stars of the show, shutting the other team out for the duration of their starts. This loss puts the Rockies back under .500 (20-21), and now behind the Giants and Marlins in the Wild Card race.
Starters having a day
Kyle Freeland had himself perhaps his best performance of the season. Only allowing three hits and no runs in his six innings of work. Freeland worked himself out of jams in both the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Freeland lost command for a bit and threw seven straight balls, but regained his form and got out. Then in the fifth, a Tony Wolters throwing error put Fernando Tatís Jr. at third base with one out. Freeland responded by striking out Manny Machado and Mitch Moreland to keep the Padres scoreless.
Unfortunately, Dinelson Lamet had one of his best games as well, throwing 7 ⅔ shutout innings with only six hits and eleven strikeouts.
Turning two Nolan’s way
As usual, Nolan Arenado made another great defensive play. This time, it was a bases loaded double play off of a Manny Machado line drive that he immediately whipped over to first. It happened so quick that even the officials had to review to see if the throw was in time. It was, keeping the game scoreless in the seventh and getting Yency Almonte out of the jam.
*after review*
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) September 8, 2020
Doubled ‘em up! Huuuuuuge play! pic.twitter.com/JYegrIfzYG
Not enough bullpen options
There might only be a few bullpen arms that Rockies fans trust — Daniel Bard (yes), Yency Almonte (usually, tonight was scary), and Mychal Givens (trust-building is in progress). That’s it: a list of three guys. We saw Almonte and Givens on Monday, but Bard was unavailable after pitching in consecutive days. Bud Black turned to Carlos Estévez, perhaps only because the other options were Jeff Hoffman (9.19 ERA), Tyler Kinley (7.71 ERA) and Jairo Diaz (9.45 ERA). All have proven that they cannot be trusted in a high leverage situation.
Unfortunately, after allowing the one run in this game, Estévez has now given up ten runs in his last five appearances for an ERA of 24.55.
Up next
Chi Chi González (0-0, 5.00 ERA) will take on Mike Clevinger (1-2, 3.14 ERA) on Tuesday for the second game of the three game series. The Rockies will look to bounce back and get back into the playoff picture. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm MT.